One of the questions that has been burning up both our email and phone is, “When exactly is the deadline to submit my materials for the MIA, MPA, or MPA-DP program?” The answer:
11:59:59 P.M on Tuesday, January 5th – Eastern Standard Time in the United States.
So at the stroke of midnight in NYC on January 5th, please have Parts 1 and 2 submitted.
I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year and provide a bit of insight into what faces our office on Monday after our office was closed for the holidays last Thursday and Friday. As I type this it is late Sunday night and I just could not resist taking a peek at the Office Email Account. Since we closed the office on Wednesday we have received close to 400 emails and although I did not check our voice mail box, it is a safe bet that it is full and needs to be cleaned out.
Upon returning to the office on Monday my staff and I will do our best to respond to all of the email and voice mail, and I am pretty sure our phone will ring constantly and we will be visited by every express mail courier known to man on Monday and Tuesday. On top of all this, history shows that over 1/3 of applicants each year submit their application within 72 hours of the deadline and we will be printing thousands of pieces of paper in the coming week.
I am sharing all of this to give you an idea of the pace of activity in our office around the deadline and to provide some advice. While we do take our deadline seriously, we also understand that there are sometimes extenuating circumstances and the crush of inquiries around the deadline does not always mean that we can respond right away. Knowing this, we will work with applicants who we believe have made a good faith effort to submit their application and all of the associated documents by the deadline.
My number one piece of advice is that if you have a question or concern, please email [email protected]. We are able to respond to email in a much more efficient manner and it also provides a sort of paper trail for us to follow (I realize emails are not paper, it’s just an expression that old people like me who went to college when there was no Internet are attached to). Emails are much easier to track and respond to than voice mail, we can answer email any time, not just during business hours, and you can send an email any time regardless of what time zone you are in or what continent you might be on.
We appreciate your patience and look forward to reviewing your application. If in doubt about anything, make sure to submit Parts 1 and 2 of your application by the deadline (January 5th) and if you have concerns about anything please send us an email.
I want to provide a quick update on a few things based on my work in the office the past few days. I have been doing a bit of everything related to processing applications. Here are a few personal notes on some of the tasks, under the theme, “I am always amazed . . . “
. . . at how dry my hands get when opening mail (and we get a lot).
. . . at how extremely hot printer parts get. Note to self: When you are printing thousands of application documents and there is a paper jam, do not just randomly grab metal parts . . . touch them first to determine if they are white hot.
. . . at how quickly our email in box fills up. We get it close to zero, step away for a few minutes, and upon returning it is once again filled with messages.
. . . at how many countries and schools are represented in our applicant pool each year. Last year we received transcripts from close to 900 different colleges and universities from over 100 countries.
Now to some information that really is important to you.
First, I cannot emphasize enough that it is not important for an application to be marked as complete in our system the day after the deadline. What is extremely important is that all of the required information is received in our office or uploaded to the server by the deadline. Thus, it is completely normal for an application record to remain incomplete for two to three weeks after the deadline. We have several thousand printed documents and mail to get through and Admission Committee meetings do not start until late January.
Please do not let the fact that it will take us time to match and track everything concern you. The date an application is completed in our office has no bearing upon an admission decision. When your file has been forwarded to the Committee, you will receive an email from our office.
Second, please remember that when you submit Part 2, transcripts and test scores are not automatically marked as received. The personal statement and résumés are tracked as received immediately because we rarely have problems with the submission of these documents. But as far as the transcripts and test scores, we need to make sure that the correct information is entered and legible. Thus we will perform a manual check and then code them into the system as appropriate.
Third, as much as we would like to respond to individual requests concerning the receipt of documents, this does not allow us to work efficiently and quickly. Each person in the office has a job and we are set up as a sort of assembly line. If one person in the system tries to go around the process and look for a specific document, it slows the process down and complicates matters. As much as I can understand emailing or calling to ask for the status of a specific document, we would much rather you wait to hear from us.
I know the stress that accompanies admission deadlines. As someone with a graduate degree I have been through the process as an applicant, and as an administrator I have been through close to fifteen years of deadlines. We strive to provide the best service possible and by far the best thing you can do is follow this blog for updates on the process.
Rest assured that if we encounter a situation where a document is missing, we will work with applicants if we believe a good faith effort was made to supply the necessary document by our deadline date. There is no need to send a document a second time to us unless we reach out to you first (we will do so by email if necessary).
Thank you again for your attention . . . it is now time for me to find some hand lotion . . .
We continue to receive emails from applicants regarding test score submission. Here are a few of the questions and reminders of how the process works in our office.
Question: I sent my scores to SIPA some time ago, why are they not appearing as received on the application site?
Answer: Applicants self report test scores in Part 2 of the application. When assembling a file for admission we do not look for official reports. When you request that official test reports be sent to SIPA, they are downloaded into a centralized computer system. We will not match application records to this system until after admission decisions have been made.
Therefore you should self report your scores in Part 2 of the application. Even after you self report and submit your application the scores will not show as “Received – Not Official” right away. We print your application, do a manual check, and then update the tracking status. We appreciate your patience as we work as quickly as possible to print and manually check each application.
Question: I emailed my scores to your office or mailed a paper copy, do I still need to self report the scores in Part 2?
Answer: Yes. Every applicant should self report the results of each test taken in Part 2 of the application. If the scores are not entered in Part 2 they do not appear when we print the application and this slows down the process.
Question: I took the (GRE, GMAT, TOEFL, IELTS) several times. How should I report my scores? Should I only list my top scores?
Answer: As you can see in the screen shot below you can self report the total results for thee different exams for both the GRE/GMAT section and the English as a Second Language section. You should therefore report each test individually.
Let us say that you take the GRE three times. We DO NOT want you to take your top three scores achieveded and enter them as one exam. You should report your scores from all three exams in the three separate sections that are available to you. If you have taken a test more than three times, report your most recent three scores.
We have received numerous emails from applicants asking if it is okay to rearrange the personal statement requirement. As a reminder, the personal statement is broken into three questions, each with an associated word limit. Examples of questions submitted recently include:
One thing that interests the Committee is an applicant’s ability to follow instructions. Thus the Committee expects to see the personal statement fit the format that has been set by the Committee. We therefore ask that each applicant follow the associated word limits and respond to the questions that are set forth in the application. Not following the instructions set forth may be negatively viewed by the Committee.
For more information on composing a compelling personal statement, please review this past blog entry.
"The most global public policy school, where an international community of students and faculty address world challenges."
—Merit E. Janow, Dean, SIPA, Professor of Practice, International and Economic Law and International Affairs
